in attendance : Salon Noir The Devil’s Cabaret with Sex Gang Children

Toronto ON, June 2 – The fifth major instalment of Salon Noir continued a tradition of presenting goth legends in the intimate dinner-and-cabaret setting of Lula Lounge. The previous instalments brought in Voltaire, The Deadfly Ensemble, David J (Bauhaus, Love & Rockets), and Jarboe (Swans), in that order, but there’s always more to each Salon Noir than its closer. There are always vendors in the front room, a variety of different acts on and off the stage, great sound quality from the speaker system, and Lula’s upscale Latin American menu for the dinner crowd.

Those who arrived early enough for dinner were rewarded with a roaming belly dance show from the captivating Maddie Bolek.

The first stage act of the evening was Toronto’s fierce glam group The Scarlet Fever. They gathered a good crowd for themselves and got people dancing with the type of high-energy show they are known for.

The next act was a classy Burlesque set from Miz Margo, one of two Burlesque performers that evening. The way the evening was organized, the crowd never got back-to-back similar types of performance; dancers were separated by a different show in between, and band sets had three acts separating them. That helped keep things fresh.

The Mental Floss Sideshow was a highly comical sketch. The bed-of-nails trick and other displays act as a framework for hilarious banter between the performers.

Coco Framboise’s Burlesque act left people wanting more, so she extended the set to much applause.

And the last stage performance of the evening came from Sex Gang Children (see the interview in the June/July 2013 Issue), who were joined by Toronto musician Justin David Minister on bass.

They immediately had themselves a crowd from the stage-front to the back of the pit, and watching from the slightly elevated dining levels to the left and right. The reviews of SGC’s set at Treffen were favorable, adding more anticipation to this long-awaited return to Toronto.

There was a great feeling in Lula that day, made better by the Sex Gang Children set. It didn’t seem like the crowd could get enough, so the Children went for an extended encore.

Every act was spot-on that evening, making for the best Salon Noir to date. Following this up seems like a challenging prospect, but one the organizers are already working on.